Automatic spud locking device



NOV 30, 1943- c.. H. ELLABY ET Al.

AUTOMATIC SPUD LOCKING DEVICE Inventors CHARLES H. ELLABY CHARLES FI MAcN/SH NV-'30, 1943. c. H. ELLABY lzru.

AUTOMATIC SPUD LOCKING DEVICE Filed Jan. 25, 1942 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 lume/whom CHARLES H. ELLABY CHARLES MAcN/SH Smear c. l-L ELLABY l-:T Al. AUTOMATIC SPUD LOCKING DEVICE 3 beets-sheet :s

Filed Jan. 23, 1942 Inventors CHARLES H. ELLABY CHARLES E MAcN/SH STAR BOARD l M 5.9 2 WOW Atturneys Patented Nov. 30, 1943 y l 2,335,266 AUTOMATIC SPUD LOCKING DEVICE charlos'n. Ellaby, st. Louis, ond charles F. MacNish, Kirkwood, Mo.`

`Application January 23, 1942, Serial No. 427,942`

` 4 claims. (c1. 317-13) (Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended April 30, 1928; 370 O. G. 757) The invention described herein may be manuably mounted in the spud well I, with racks 3 factured and used by or for the Government for secured to the sides of the spud 2 adjacent to governmental purposes, without the payment to the apertured sides of the spud well. The lockus of any royalty thereon. ing devices are located on the deck of the dredge This invention relates to a method and means 5 or floating craft adjacent to the apertured sides for stabilizing floating vessels by means 0f `an imof the spud Well I, and each of the locking devices proved speed mechanism. comprises a stand 4 mounted on the deck of the The generalobject of this invention is to pro- -lioating craft adjacent to an aperture I' in the vide a simple and easily operated automatic spud spud well I. The stands 4 include an outer pair locking device for floating dredges or any other of ears 4 and a central pair of ears 4" providing type of floating craft equipped with spuds, which bearings for a main shaft 5 supporting vertically will effectuate the lowering of the spuds into the alined upper and lower locking pawls E and l,

river bottom, the anchoring of the hull and holdrespectively, which engage with a toothed rack 3 ing it in stable position during the dredging or on one side of a spud 2through an aperturel in hoisting operation. 5.- one side of the spud wel1.I. The main shaft 5 The conception of the invention implies an utiis. flattened at one side for engagement with a lization of the rolling and pitching motion of a small block 5 suitably mounted on a ystand 4, dredge or floating craft-eifectuated by the weight i whereby the shaft 5 is held against rotation on of the loaded dredge-bucket, or other load swung the pairs of ears 4 and 4". .The upper locking between the portand starboard sides of the dredge pawl 6 is pivotally mounted on the main shaft or oating plant, whereby an automatic lowering l 5 between the central pair of ears 4 and the and locking of the spuds for each stop of their lower locking pawl 'I is provided with a U-shaped operation will be achieved. The automatic lockupper end, the legs 'I' of which are plvotally ing of the spuds by a method as mentioned will mounted on the main shaft 5 between the central resist transverse oscillating and more easily and and outer pairs of ears 4 and 4, respectively.

more economically effectuate and control the po- Counter-balanced crank arms or levers 8 and 9 sition and stabilization of the craft during the having the weights I6 and I'I on the outer ends dredging or hoisting operation than has heretothereof are mounted on separate auxlllary shafts fore been experienced with other types of dredges I0 and I I, respectively, which separate` shafts I0 or Vfloating crafts, usually held in' position by and may be C Oaxal as luustraed fnd Carry means of anchor spuds, anchors or combination Cams l2 and '3 Wlth turned ends l2 '2 and '3 of spuds and anchors. I3", respectively, provided thereon. The turned The operation of Vour spud locking device will end I2' of the cam I2 is adapted to abut against be clear from a consideration of the following the inner surface of a projection member I4 prodetailed description and the accompanying draw- 'Vded'on the pawl 6, fOr engaging Said pawl 6 with ings in which l a rack s on the Spud 2 and the turned end la' Fig. 1 is a view in perspective, partly in cross of the cam I3 is adapted to'abut against the inner section, of `an embodiment 0f the invention as surface of the projection member I5 provided on applied to a spud; I I Y 40 one of the ears I of the LII-shaped upper end of Fig. 2 is a cross section view along the line the lower pawl 'I for also engaging the pawl Iwith 2--2 of Fig. 1; l the rack 3. By manually throwing the Weighted Fig. 3 is a modified form of locking device using levers 8 and 9 through arcs of approximately 180 a single bell crank pawl; as illustrated in dotted outline in Fig. 1, the other Fig. 4 is a modied form of locking` device 45 turned'ends I2 and I3 of the cams I2' and adapted ifor use in ourimproved system; I3, respectively, are caused to engage with the Fig. 5 is a modified form of locking device other sides of the projection members I4 and I5, using a single cam, and` for releasing the pawls 6 and 'I from engagement Figs. 6 through 15 are a series of operational with the rack 3, whereby upWald and dWIiWaId.

l views illustrating one method of utilizing the motion of the Spud 2 in the spud well I is reguinvention. lated. With the pawls 6 and 1 in the position Referring to Figs. l and 2, a spud well I havshown, movement of the spud 2 in either direc- Ving apertures I in certain opposite sides thereof tion is prevented.

is mounted on the deck of a dredge or other oat- The two pawls 6 and I of Figs. 1 and zniay be ing craft and a vertically extending spud Zis slid-M replaced by a single bell crank pawlas shown in Fig. 3. In this arrangement a single shaft I Il is used and rotation of the weighted lever 8 causes either the upper arm 2E or the lower arm 2| of the centrally-pivoted bell crank 22 to engage the rack 3. The operation of this modification is similar to that shown in Figs. 1 and 2 except that the spud can be locked against movement in one direction only.

It is possible to use eccentric cams rather than pawls to lock the spud. Such an arrangement isillustrated in Fig. 4. In this gure the' pawls E and 'I of Fig. 1 are replaced by eccentric cams I8 and I9 respectively. It will be seen that move-z. 'i ment of the spud 2 in a direction opposed tothe" weighted levers 8 or 9 will tend to rotate theZ cams I8 or I9 away from the bearing surface on the spud and reverse movement tends to rotate the cams I8 and I9 towards said bearing surface. In the position shown the spud 2 is locked against movement in either direction. Y

The dual cams I8 and ISof Fig. 4 may be replaced, as is shown in Fig. 5, by a single doublevacting cam 23.4 The cam 23` is mounted on a single shaft ID and is operated by rotating the weighted lever 8. In this modication the spud 2 can be locked only against movement in one direction.

The lowering of the spuds into the bed material is effectuated by the rolling or' pitching' of the Vessel. may be eifectuated by the weight of the loaded dredge bucket or any other load, Vsufficiently heavy to create a rolling or pitching motion of' the dredge or floating craft, when swung between the port and starboard sides,v as illustrated in Figs. 6 through 15. j

Fig. 6 illustrates a dredge or floating craft with the lowered .spuds resting on the bottom. When resting in this position the counterbalanced levers Fig. 8. When in this position the starboard :spud

will drop down Vin the spud well and the lower pawls 1 on the starboard side will automatically engage and lock with the toothed spud racks at a point corresponding to the new position of the spud, thus preventing the spuds from moving upward, as shown in Figs. 9 and 10.

Fig. 11 illustrates the craft when the load has been Vswung toward the starboard side `of theV craft, thereby automatically causing the lower pawlson the port side to engage and lock with the teeth on the port side spudrack at a point corresponding to the new position of the port side spud, as lshown vin Figs. 12 and A13. This spud like the one on the opposite side of the draft is thereby also prevented from moving upward.

The operation of swingingtheload between the port and starboard .sides of the craft con-` tinues until the spuds have found s'ufciently solid bearing to maintain a. stable position,'when the upperpawls at `both sides of the dredge or floating crafttare-engag'ed, as illustrated in Figs. 14 and 15.

Fig. 14 illustrates a position at which the craft,

'due to the moving of the load between the port 'andstarboard sides, eife'ctuating the stable posi- Should the wavev motion be insufficient it tion of the spuds in the bottom of'the body of water, will be in equilibrium for any position of the load.

When in this position the dredge or floating craft is ready for the dredging or hoisting operation.

When, afterY completed dredging or hoisting operation, the spuds, which have become more or less mired in the tenacious river bottom, are to be loosened andr raised, the extrication of the spuds isautomatically achieved by reversing the position ofthe pawls 6 and 'I.

Inraising the' spuds, the load is again swung i to the starboard side of the dredge, as illustrated in Fig. V1li, thereby reducing the pressure on the lowerwprawls 'I at the port side of the dredge. ,These` pawls 'I can now be releasedpthe upper pawls 6, however, remaining engaged. The next procedure is to swing the load to the port side any pressure on the spuds.

of the dredge at which position the lower pawls 'I on the starboard side are released, The starboard upper pawls 4 remain engaged. 'The swinging of the loaded bucket between port and starboard sides effectuating a pressure of the upper pawls against the teeth on the spud rack will thus loosen'the spuds which have become mired in the bottom, and permit the dredge t0` floatwithout If the spuds have become mired in the bed material to such an eX- tent that difficulties are encountered in the loosening of the spuds, the thrust of the upper pawls against the teeth' on the spud racks, achieved by the successive pitching or rolling motion of the craft, will effectuate the loosening ofY the spuds. The spuds are then lifted by means of a line from the boom, attached to the top of the Yspud or by means of a spud hoisting engine and the necessary lines and sheaves. v Y

Although we have described our invention with respectto certain arrangements it is to be understood that We do not wish to be limited to the particular construction and adaptations shown, sinceY various modifications within the spirit of the invention will suggest themselves to one skilled inthe art.

Having described our invention, what we claim as newjand wish to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The combination with a floating craft, of spud wells having apertured opposite sides and mounted ,on said floating craft, spuds slidably mounted in said yspud wells and including sides adjacent to the apertured sides of the spud wells,

racks provided on said sides of the spuds, a plurality of stands, one of each of said stands mounted on a deck of said floating craft adjacent to one of each of the apertured sides of said spud wells, a main shaft mounted on each of said stands, vertically alined upper and lower pawls provided on said main shafts 'and adapted to be individually actuated into engagement with or out of engagement from said racks on the spuds through the apertured sides of said spud wells, and means adapted to independentlyY control the engagement of said upper and lower pawls with 'said racks whereby upward or downward movement of said spuds in the spud wells may be controlled.

2. The combination with a floating craft, of spud wells having apertured opposite sides and mounted on said floating craft, spuds yslidably mounted in said spud wells and including sides 'adjacent to the aperturedY sides of said spud wells, racks provided onsaidV sides of the spuds, a Vplurality of stands, one of each of said stands 4mounted on a deck of the iioating craft adjacent to one of each of the apertured sides of the spud wells, a main shaft and auxiliary shafts mounted on each of said stands, vertically alined upper and lower pawls provided on said main shafts and adapted to be individuallyactuated into engagement with or out of engagement from said racks on the spuds through the apertured sides in said spud wells, and means including weighted levers mounted on said auxiliary shafts and adapted to independently control the engagement of said upper and lower pawls with said racks whereby upward and downward movement of said spuds in the spud wells may be controlled.

3. The combination with a, floating craft, of spud Wells having apertured opposite sides and mounted on said floating craft, spuds slidably mounted in said Spud wells and including sides adjacent to the apertured sides of said spud wells, racks provided on said sides of the spuds, a plurality of stands, one of each of said stands mounted on a deck of the oating craft adjacent to one of each of the apertured sides of the spud Wells, a main shaft and auxiliary shafts mounted on each of said stands, vertically alined upper and lower pawls mounted on said main shafts and adapted to be individually actuated into engagement with or out of engagement from said racks on the spuds through the apertures in said spud wells, said lower pawls having U-shaped upper ends pivotally mounted on said main shafts and means adapted to independently Control the engagement of said pawls with said racks, said means including projections on said upper and lower pawls, and weighted levers and cams mounted on said auxiliary shafts, said weighted levers adapted to be manually actuated to actuate said auxiliary shafts to actuate said cams into engagement with said projections for actuating said upper and lower pawls into engagement with and out of engagement from said racks on the spuds whereby the upward and downward movement of said spuds in the spud wells may be controlled.

4. The combination with a floating craft, of vertically extending spud wells having apertured opposite sides and mounted on said floating craft, spuds slidably mounted in said spud wells and including sides adjacent to the apertured sides of said spud wells, vertically extending racks provided on said sides of the spuds, a plurality of stands including inwardly extending ears, one of each of said stands mounted on a deck of the floating craft adjacent to one of each of the apertured sides of the spud wells, a main shaft and auxiliary shafts mounted on each of said stands, said main shafts mounted on the ears of said stands and said auxiliary shafts being coaxial, upper and lower pawls arranged in the same vertical plane mounted on said main shafts and adapted to be individually actuated into engagement with or out of engagement from said racks on the spuds through the apertures in said spud wells, and means including a manually actuated weighted lever mounted on each of said auxiliary shafts and adapted to independently control the engagement of said upper and lower pawls with said racks whereby upward and downward movement of said spuds in the spud wells may be controlled.

CHARLES H. ELLABY. CHARLES F. MACNISH. 

